Page 66 of Tarnished Queen

Christo shrugs. “Some offense.”

Yuri lets out an incoherent growl.

“Calm the fuck down and then sit the fuck down,” I tell him. He hesitates and I snap my fingers. “Now.”

Reluctantly, he sits back down. But rather than slouching back in the chair like he was when I entered, he’s perched on the very edge with his spine ramrod straight. Christo is standing in the corner like a ghost, practically blending into the wallpaper.

“Christo isn’t working for the Greeks. He’s working for me.”

“He’s a fucking liar,” Yuri hisses.

At that, Christo stiffens. His face flushes with rage. In a second, I’m going to have a brawl on my hands.

“If either of you touch one another, I’ll kill you both,” I say. “How about that? Will a death threat cool some tempers?”

“I’m fine,” Christo grits out.

“And I’ll be fine once he’s gone.” Yuri shakes his head and then spits in Christo’s direction. “I lost brothers because of your people.”

“You would have lost your don, too,” I sigh, “if it hadn’t been for him.”

Yuri finally gives me his full attention again, eyes rapt.

Satisfied that I have his focus, I continue. “Arslan was dead next to me. I was cornered with no way out. Christo gave me a gun and helped me fight my way free. Without him, I’d be dead.”

Yuri mulls that over for a second. “He has a motive, then. What does he gain by keeping you alive?”

“My aunt’s head on a fucking spike,” Christo answers grimly. “Xena killed my father. I want her to pay. Nikolai is the only man who can make that happen.”

“But he won’t be able to if he’s dead,” Yuri says. He turns to me. “And you will be, Don, if the men find out you’re working with the Greeks.”

“I’m not working with the Greeks. I’m working with one Greek. And he’s left the family business.”

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter, Nikolai. Everyone is already on edge with Belle being back in the house. And with the rumors that the two of you are getting married.”

I clench my jaw. “They aren’t rumors. Why does it matter who I marry?”

“Is it a rumor that she was working with the Greeks, too? Because the men think she partnered with Xena. That’s why it matters.”

Christo stiffens. I can tell he wants to answer. He still hasn’t fully forgiven Belle for her betrayal. These two could probably bond over their mutual distrust of her.

“That isn’t a rumor, either. But Belle doesn’t understand this world. She didn’t realize what she was doing.”

“Do you think the men will care about that?” Yuri spits. “I’m not trying to question you, sir, but—”

“But you are,” Christo interrupts.

Yuri throws a glare in his direction before looking back to me. “The men are on edge, Don Zhukova. We’ve lost brothers and friends. Now is not the time to look sympathetic to the Greeks.”

“No one is sympathetic to the Simatous. Least of all me,” I growl. “I watched my best friend die in the dirt because of Xena and her men. Fuck them all.”

“Yeah, fuck them all… Except Christo and Belle,” he adds quietly.

I stand up, my hand on my gun. “You’re getting dangerously close to pissing me off, Yuri.”

“You’d shoot an unarmed man?” he asks.

“I won’t need to. I’ll strangle you. It’ll be more personal that way.”

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